Sewing machine needle with cooling characteristics



1961 H. VOM LEHN ETAL 3,00

SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE WITH COOLING CHARACTERISTICS Filed June 24, 1958 59 INVENTOR. 64 Herman vorn Lehn and 64 BY ony J, Shesf.

Fig. 6. C i

65 38 W ZTTORNEY 3,005,428 SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE WITH COULING CHARACTERISTICS Herman Vern Lehn, Elizabeth, and Anthony J. Shest, Clark, N..l., assignors to The Singer Manufacturing .Cornpany, Elizabeth, N.J., a corporation of New ersey Filed June 24, 1958, Ser. No. 744,160 7 Claims. (Cl. 112-222) This invention relates to sewing machine needles and more particularly to sewing machine needles adapted for use with high speed sewing machines, the needles embodying this invention having cooling characteristics which are especially suitable for high speed sewing of modern synthetic materials, such as nylon.

It is well known that the needle of a high speed sewing machine becomes hot due to friction between the needle and the material being sewed. And the problem of needle overheating is especially troublesome when modern synthetic fabrics, such as nylon, are sewed at high speed. In the past, many attempts have been made to keep sewing machine needles cool. For example, blowers and other types of cooling devices have been used. Also, the external surfaces of needles have been highly polished in an attempt to decrease friction between the needle and the material being sewed. However, the final answer to needle overheating has not, heretofore, been found and thus one important object of the present invention is to prow'de an improved sewing machine needle that can be used with high speed sewing machines and which will decrease the danger of the needle becoming overheated.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sewing machin needle in which the contact area between the needle and material being sewed is reduced and in which there is provided an increased radiating surface for dissipation of heat.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sewing machine needle having needle cooling characteristics.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a pre ferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a sewing machine needle embodying the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a portion of the sewing machine needle as seen in the direction of the arrow 2 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a portion of the sewing machine needle as seen in the direction of the arrow 3 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevational view of a portion of the needle of FIG. 1 showing the needle as it passes through material being sewed,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken through the needle on the line 55 of FIG. 4, and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken through the needle on the line 66 of FIG. 4.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, there is shown a sewing machine needle 16 having, (a) a conventional shank portion 17 adapted to be received in a conventional needle clamp (not shown) of a sewing machine (also not shown), (b) a frustoconical butt portion 18 formed integral with the shank portion 17, and (c) a blade portion 19, the upper end of which is formed integral with the butt portion 18, the

3,ii95,428 Batented Get. 24, 1961 blade portion 19 being provided on the end opposite the butt engaging portion with a thread eye 21 and a work penetrating point 22. The left side of the needle 16, as seen in FIG. 1, is provided with a deep longitudinally extending thread receiving straight groove 23 which extends from the shank portion 17 along the butt portion 18, along the blade portion 19, past the eye 21 and almost to the point 22. In a similar manner, the right side of the needle, as seen in FIG. 1, is provided with a deep longitudinally extending thread receiving straight groove 24 which extends from the butt portion 18, along the blade portion 19, past the eye 21 and to a location adjacent to the point 22. The right side of the needle 16 also has a clearance above the eye indentation 25. FIGS. 5 and 6 show that the thread receiving grooves 23 and 24 are deep grooves. These thread grooves generally extend into the blade of the needle for a distance of from 25 to '50 percent of the diameter of the needle blade portion 19.

'In addition to the hereinbefore described conventional portions, the blade 19 of the needle 16 has a plurality of spaced high-pitch spiral grooves. The specific needle illustrated has three separate preferably rolled spiral grooves indicated by the numerals 36, 37 and 38. The spiral groove 36 begins at a location 46 in the blade portion 19 adjacent to the butt portion 18 and ends at a location 56 adjacent to the eye 21. In like manner, the spiral groove 37 begins at a location 47 in the blade portion 19 adjacent to the butt portion 18 and ends at a location 57 adjacent to the eye 21. Also, the spiral groove 38 beings at a location 48 in the blade portion 11 adjacent to the butt portion 18 and ends at a location 58 adjacent to the eye 21. Reference to FIG. 5 shows that, at any cross section through the needle, the grooves 36, 37 and 38 are spaced degrees apart around the blade 19. FIGS. 5 and 6 show that the spiral cooling grooves 36, 37 and 38 are shallow in comparison to the deep thread grooves 23 and 24. In fact the shallow cooling grooves 36, 3'7 and 38 preferably extend below the surface of the needle a maximum of 15 percent of the diameter of the blade. Also the cooling grooves shown in the drawings comprise spirals that extend at least 360 degrees around the blade portion 19. In fact, FIG. 1 shows that each of the spirals 36, 37 and 38 makes approximately five complete turns around the blade portion 19. It will, of course, be appreciated that the three spiral grooves 36, 37 and 38 create three separate spiral lands 41, 42 and 43 positioned between the spiral grooves 36, 37 and 38. The spiral land 41 is bounded by the spiral grooves 36 and 37. The spiral land 42 is bounded by the spiral grooves 37 and 38. And the spiral land '43 is bounded by the spiral grooves 38 and 36. Reference to FIG. 5 shows that at any cross section through the blade portion 19, the lands 41, 42 and 43 are spaced 120 degrees apart around the blade 19. Also, FIGS. 1 through 6 show that the three spiral grooves 36, 37 and 38 are longitudinally equally spaced from each other and that they have the same pitch. Because of this, the three grooves 36, 37 and 38 do not intersect or cross. Also, the lands 41, 42 and 43 do not intersect or cross one another. It will be understood, however, that arrangements of grooves and lands, other than those shown in the drawings, may be employed. Looking at the present invention in a broad sense, it can be said that a straight line drawn parallel to the axis of the blade 1-9 and engaging the lands 41, 42 and 43 will be broken where it passes the grooves 36, 37 and 38. In other words, the external surface of the blade 19 is discontinued or broken by shallow depressions formed by the recurrent grooves 36, 37 and 38.

The above described plurality of grooves and lands accomplish several separate desirable results. First, a needle having a plurality of spiral grooves, as compared to a conventional needlenot having spiral grooves, has a greatly reduced area of contact with the material being sewed. This can clearly be seen in FIGS. 4 and 6 which show details of the blade 19 of the sewing machine needle 16 as it passes through a hole 59 formed in the three plies of material 61, 62 and 63 being sewed. Numerals 64-6464 indicate portions of the boundary of the cloth hole 59 which engage the needle blade 19, and numerals 656565 indicate portions of the boundary of the hole 59 which, due to the presence of the spiral grooves 36, 37 and 38, are free from frictional contact with the needle blade 19. Second, the presence of the grooves 36, 37 and 38 increases the heat radiating area of the blade 19 over the heat radiating area of a conventional ungrooved needle. This can be seen in FIG. 5, wherein the distance along the circumference of the blade 19 from a point 66 to a point 67 is less than the distance from the point 66 to the point 67 when measured by way of the bottom 68 of the groove 37. Third, the spiral grooves and spiral lands act as fans and stir up the air in the vicinity of the needle and thus circulate more cooling air than would be circulated by the movement of a smooth needle. Fourth, the spiral grooves carry air into the hole 59 and thus cool the inside surface of the hole, and this, of course, cools the needle. Fifth, the spiral grooves and lands provide such a desirable cooling effect on the sewing machine needle that they can be referred to as heat dissipating or cooling grooves and lands.

Having thus set forth the nature of our invention, what we claim herein is:

1. A sewing machine needle comprising a long narrow solid blade portion having at least one thread receiving groove extending longitudinally thereof, and having a thread eye formed adjacent to one end of said blade; a needle point formed on the end of said blade nearest to said thread eye; a shank portion formed integrally with the end of said blade remote from said thread eye, said shank portion being adapted to be received by the needle clamp of a sewing machine, and said blade portion in addition being provided with a spiral groove.

2. A sewing machine needle in accordance with claim 1, in which the spiral groove is shallow.

3. A sewing machine needle in accordance with claim 1, in which the spiral groove extends into the body of the blade of the needle a maximum distance of 15 percent of the diameter of the blade.

4. A sewing machine needle in accordance with claim 1, in which the spiral groove spirals at least 360 degrees around the blade of the needle.

5. A sewing machine needle comprising a long narrow solid blade portion having at least one thread receiving groove extending longitudinally thereof, and having a thread eye formed adjacent to one end of said blade; a needle point formed on the end of said blade nearest to said thread eye; a shank portion formed integrally with the end of said blade remote from said thread eye, said shank portion being adapted to be received by the needle clamp of a sewing machine, and said solid blade portion being provided with a plurality of spaced spiral grooves thereby providing spaced spiral lands located between adjacent spiral grooves.

6. A sewing machine needle comprising a long narrow solid blade portion having a pair of deep straight thread receiving grooves extending longitudinally thereof, and having a thread eye formed adjacent to one end of said blade; a needle point formed on the end of said blade nearest to said thread eye; a frusto-conical butt portion formed integrally with the end of said blade remote from said point; a shank portion formed integrally with the end of said butt portion, and said shank portion being adapted to be received by the needle clamp of a sewing machine, and said solid blade portion being formed with a plurality of shallow spaced spiral grooves thereby providing spaced spiral lands located between adjacent spiral grooves.

7. A sewing machine needle comprising a long narrow solid blade portion having a pair of deep straight thread receiving grooves extending longitudinally thereof, and having a thread eye formed adjacent to one end of said blade; a needle point formed on the end of said blade nearest to said thread eye; a frusto-conical butt portion formed integrally with the end of said blade remote from said point; a shank portion formed integrally with the end of said butt portion, and said shank portion being adapted to be received by the needle clamp of a sewing machine, and said solid blade portion being formed with at least three separate high-pitched spiral grooves, said spiral grooves defining therebetween a plurality of spaced spiral lands located between adjacent spiral grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 662,307 Roszell Nov. 20, 1900 1,073,140 Kendig Sept. 16, 1913 1,323,340 Weis Dec. 2, 1919 2,008,031 Miltner July 16, 1935 2,370,706 Andreasson Mar. 6, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,143,980 France Apr. 15, 1957 

